Thursday, October 15, 2009

composed this morning

Posted this evening, from Waves coffee.

I'm on the 25th floor of the Sheraton Wall Centre, a cliff-face dwelling with all the amenities, including a bathrobe that I could buy for $105. There were two chocolates on the pillow--actually on the bedspread on a card, because the pillows (all 5, one embossed with the hotel logo) were vertically arranged for more comfortable viewing of the bureau-wide flatscreen tv.

Not sure how many floors there are, (FutureBarb says: 35) being rather tired when I arrived, but the 25th allows for a considerable view over the city, and not much in the way of obstruction short of the mountains. The windows (a wall of them) are floor-to-ceiling, but in consideration of humans being ape-related rather than eagle-related, gauze curtains hang before the whole expanse. There's a balcony, but while I'm willing to lean against the glass, I'm not so sure about going outside. Sometimes my natural caution about heights deserts me.

The view by night is amazing, but the webcam didn't want to capture it. I did get a pic of me wearing a $105 bathrobe, though. (It's the simple pleasures.)

The Sheraton is much nicer than the Marriott Pinnacle for room design, though both have comfy beds with two degrees of pillow and cosy duvets. This room is a narrow right-angle triangle (cliff-face) with the bathroom as the base and the little glass table where I sit typing at the point. Beside the bureau & tv is a vinyl comfy-chair in a colour I can't name at the moment, like a bright terra-cotta.

I read the earthquake instructions. They tell you to shelter under a wooden table or desk. The table is glass, and there is no desk. I don't fancy my chances of pulling all the drawers out of the bureau and squishing myself in between the supports.

It will be some time before I post this, because an internet connection costs $11 for the low-end, so I'll wait until I'm at a coffee shop with free internet. But I have a $5 voucher for food here because of skipping housekeeping for today, so I'll have coffee here at least.

How do I come to be here, you ask? Aha, I am on union business, attending a conference on privacy and information. Because not only am I on the union executive (as a trustee) but I'm the new privacy officer, and need to know what in heck I should be doing.

In about 10 minutes I'll be walking the 10 blocks to the conference hotel and seeing if the free continental breakfast is for all delegates or just those staying at the (pricier) hotel. I'm bracing myself to take full and informative notes about the conference sessions so that I can report when I get back.

5 comments:

avo said...

You lead a glamorous life, Madame Union Privacy Officer. Wishing you well...

Bart

Philippe de St-Denis said...

The robe is nice, but I'm still dying from envy about being on a panel with Tanya Huff.

batgirl said...

Well, you know, sometimes it's picketing in the rain, and sometimes it's swanning about in pricey bathrobes.
VP staff, now that's glamour!

Kali, yeah, that was pretty darned cool. Must remember to email thanks to programming people for including me. (I claimed mutual acquaintance, and we chatted about Meg and Kate)

Terri-Lynne said...

The other hotel was pricier??? The one you were in sounds top notch to me. Yikes!

I was in Kansas for a wedding last weekend. We stayed in a very nice LaQuinta Inn and Suites--nothing exhaustively elegant, but really nice. The BEST part about it was the bed. A tempurpedic mattress!!! I never wanted to leave.

batgirl said...

The crazy thing is that it cost about the same as the Marriott room, and it was soooo much nicer. The Marriott didn't have bathrobes at all, let alone one you could buy for a mere $105.
Now I have to google tempurpedic mattress and see what delights I have yet to experience.